Six sentenced to death for 2021 Ghana coup plot

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00:00 several coup attempts. This is the first time that Ghana is successfully going through a

00:05 treason trial since the 1960s when its first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was overthrown.

00:12 The six who have now been convicted are supposed to die by hanging. They are part of an initial

00:19 ten who were arrested in a suburb of Accra, the capital, while testing weapons that they

00:25 were allegedly going to use in this coup plot. All ten of them initially pleaded not guilty

00:31 in a trial that captured the attention of the entire country and went through the country's

00:36 court systems for two years. They included three soldiers and one senior police officer

00:44 who, along with two others, were released because the prosecution failed to produce

00:49 enough evidence to show that they were actively involved in the plot. The prosecution showed

00:56 in court communication between those who have now been convicted that showed that they were

01:01 plotting to embark on this activity. Those who have been convicted and their defense

01:08 say they would appeal the case in the country's highest court, the Supreme Court. Ghana hasn't

01:15 used the death penalty system since 1992 when the country returned to constitutional rule.

01:24 This conviction comes at a time when Ghana has had a heightened security environment

01:30 as the wider West African subregion has experienced a series of successful coup plots.

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